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naldic
ISSN 1751-2190
Quarterly
QUARTERLY
the national subject association for EAL
Volume 10 Number 1 Autumn 2012
National Association for Language Development in the Curriculum
naldic
NALDIC Quarterly 10.1. Autumn 2012
CONTENTS
Guest Editorial
Angela Creese Page 2
Investigating Discourses of Inheritance and Identities
in Four Multilingual European Settings
Adrian Blackledge Page 4
When he opened the door tagna på bar gärning:
Translanguaging as a resource in English language subject classes
in a bilingual Sweden Finnish school in Sweden
Anu Muhonen Page 9
Multilingual practices in a Panjabi complementary school in Birmingham
Jaspreet Kaur Takhi, Angela Creese, Adrian Blackledge Page 14
Translanguaging as pedagogy for language learning in a bilingual school
Carla Jonsson Page 19
Contestation as pedagogy in the complementary classroom
Jinling Li, Kasper Juffermans, Sjaak Kroon, Jan Blommaert Page 25
Authority relations: The mono-cultural educational agenda
and classrooms characterized by diversity
Martha Sif Karrebæk Page 33
Teaching a Language in Transformation: Chinese in Globalisation
Jinling Li, Kasper Juffermans, Sjaak Kroon, Jan Blommaert Page 38
Book Review Page 43
Vicky Obied
Copyright for individual contributions remains vested in the authors to whom
applications for rights to reproduce should be made. NALDIC Quarterly should
always be acknowledged as the original source of publication.
NALDIC retains the right to republish any of the contributions in this issue in future
NALDIC publications or to make them available in electronic form for the benefit of its
members. For further information contact publications@naldic.org.uk
ISSN 1751-2190
1NALDIC Quarterly 10.1. Autumn 2012
multilingual research team is crucial to our
Guest Editorial collection of research evidence and our
interpretation of this evidence because teams of
researchers add to the diversity of voices
Angela Creese represented in research narratives and accounts.
The second way in which these papers are
Introduction
There are two ways in which the papers in this linked is in the themes they share. Language
special issue of NALDIC Quarterly are linked. practices in and beyond classroom settings, and
The first is through the authors, who are all the description of identities in educational
researchers on the same funded project, settings, are the central foci of this research. In
‘Investigating discourses of inheritance and this special issue we engage with two particular
identity in four multilingual European settings elements of these interests: Teacher identities
(IDII4MES). Below, the project’s principal and Multilingual pedagogies.
investigator, Adrian Blackledge, provides
further details on the project’s objectives, case Teacher identities
studies and overall findings. Our research Identity is a topic of considerable interest in the
project has taken us into multilingual field of education. Research on identities in
classrooms in Birmingham, Copenhagen, multilingual educational contexts investigates
Stockholm, and Tilburg where we investigated the various linguistic resources which
the multilingual practices and identities of multilingual pupils, teachers, and parents use to
young people and their teachers in a range of negotiate selves in classrooms and school
educational settings including primary, contexts. Teacher identity and language
secondary and complementary schools in learning has been discussed by Conteh (2007a;
Northern Europe. The ‘superdiverse’ 2007b). She looked at the identity work which
(Vertovec, 2009) contexts of our European bilingual teachers do in primary schools and
cities mean that as educators we have a great found that bilingual teachers used code
deal in common across our cityscapes. We are switching as an important resource to perform
faced with questions of how best to respond to their professional identities. This was important
increasing diversity in policy and practice. Old to the bilingual teachers as it allowed them to
questions need new answers as we search for draw on funds of knowledge which they used as
contextualised pedagogic approaches that are “cultural bridging between life in Bradford and
‘particular, practical and possible’ Pakistan” (Conteh, 2007a, p. 196). Conteh
(Kumaravadivelu, 2001). Describing local and draws on Cummins (2001, pp. 1–2) to remind us
nuanced responses to change are central to our of the potential transformative power of the
research which used an ethnographic approach conversations between teachers and learners.
to investigating young people’s and their Specifically she argues that code switching “is a
teachers’ actions, interactions, and practices as distinctive feature of being bilingual, which
they engaged in the business of language very clearly links social, cultural and linguistic
teaching and learning or other curriculum factors” (2007b, p. 466), and she suggests that
projects. Our research is ethnographic because this is a particularly important resource in
we are representing our participants’ voices as working with second and third generation
they go about their daily lives. We work in a ethnic-minority children from different heritage
multilingual research team and our accounts are backgrounds.
produced by researchers whose own linguistic,
cultural and social histories shape what they see Multilingual pedagogies
and hear while investigating the multilingualism NALDIC (2009) has defined “best practice”
of our schools. As a research team we share the multilingual education as creating an
view that language use not only reflects the implementation space where bilingualism is an
wider social order but also shapes it through integral part of teaching and learning. This
interactions with others. Our view of research is means going beyond acceptance or tolerance of
that investigators cannot stand outside of the children’s languages, to “cultivation” of
research process, but must stand inside it and languages through their use for teaching and
offer narratives that represent themselves and learning. García (2009, p. 8) argues that there is
others in that process. Working in a large a pedagogic need for “practices firmly rooted in
the multilingual and multimodal language and
2NALDIC Quarterly 10.1. Autumn 2012
literacy practices of children in schools of the communities highlighting the relevance of their
twenty-first century.” bilingualism in different social settings.
There is a growing body of research in The three remaining papers are focused on
education that accepts and develops these contestation in the classrooms. Each deals with
arguments in terms of multilingual pedagogies. issues of identity construction and performance
García argues for a dynamic and flexible as both teachers and young people are involved
bilingualism in schools which centres on the in the social positioning and negotiation of
individual students’ language practices. ethnic, linguistic or cultural categories. The
According to García the role of educators is to first paper by the Tilburg team, Jinling Li,
notice learner needs rather than demarcate lines Kasper Juffermans, Sjaak Kroon and Jan
between particular languages. Meaningful Blommaert shows how a tale of morality in a
instructional practices support students’ Chinese complementary school class in the
linguistic and cognitive growth. García has Netherlands leads to a debate about national
developed the term ‘translanguaging’ to discuss characteristics, stereotyping and identity. The
multiple language practices in interrelationship second paper by Martha Sif Karrebæk looks at
(2009). García suggests that language choice in how classrooms in a Copenhagen school with a
multilingual speakers involves negotiation in pupil age range from 5 to 16 years create
every interaction as speakers “decide who they different constructions of diversity through
want to be and choose their language practices teacher/student authority relations. The final
accordingly” (2010, p. 524). Creese and paper in the collection, again from the Tilburg
Blackledge (2010) describe how bilingual team, provides a case study of one teacher
teachers translanguage to move between whose linguistic and social history illustrates
languages to include different participants— not only the issues language teachers must face
students, parents, and teachers—in the teaching in a globalised world as they become learners
and learning of community languages. They themselves of new languages and language
argue that this endorsement of flexible varieties but also the changing statuses of
bilingualism by the bilingual teachers offers the varieties of Chinese.
students an identity position of code switching
as usual, acceptable, and positive. Conclusion
We are sure that you will see in some of the
Special issue overview examples in this collection evidence of good
The first paper in this collection is by Adrian practice. However, you will also see examples
Blackledge who provides an overview of the which present the complexities of everyday
research project, a short summary of the classroom life, of teacher identities with their
findings and an argument that European and own variegated histories, stories of successes
national policy-makers in the areas of education, and stories of struggles. We believe that our
community relations, international affairs and multi-sited, transnational, team ethnography
public opinion need to rethink existing social approach lends itself to a rich and reliable
categories which bind ethnicity, language and perspective for acquiring new understandings of
culture unproblematically together. contemporary social, cultural, economic and
political processes.
The following three papers from the Stockholm
and Birmingham projects focus on pedagogic References
practices. Anu Muhonen and Carla Jonsson Conteh, J. (2007a). Bilingualism in mainstream
provide examples of multilingual approaches to primary classrooms in England. In Z. Hua, P.
teaching English in bilingual classrooms in Seedhouse, L. Wei, & V. Cook (Eds.),
Sweden. The papers illustrate the potential of Language learning and teaching as social
translanguaging to engage students and validate interaction (pp. 185–98 ). Basingstoke,
their multilingual repertoires while also pointing England: Palgrave Macmillan.
to some potential challenges facing teachers and
students. The Birmingham team, Jaspreet Kaur Conteh, J. (2007b). Opening doors to success in
Takhi, Angela Creese and Adrian Blackledge multilingual classrooms: Bilingualism,
provide a vignette of a bilingual teacher in a codeswitching and the professional identities of
complementary school who is able to make “ethnic minority” primary teachers. Language
links for her students across their multiple and Education, 21(6), 457–72.
3NALDIC Quarterly 10.1. Autumn 2012
Creese, A., & Blackledge A. (2010). Investigating Discourses of
Translanguaging in the bilingual classroom: A
pedagogy for learning and teaching. Modern Inheritance and Identities in
Language Journal, 94(1), 103–15. Four Multilingual European
Settings
Cummins, J. (2001) Negotiating Identities:
Education for Empowerment in a Diverse
___________________
Society (2nd edn.) Ontario, CA: California Adrian Blackledge
Association for Bilingual Education.
García, O. (2009). Bilingual education in the Research Aims
21st century: A global perspective. Oxford,
England: Wiley-Blackwell. The aims of the research project ‘Investigating
Discourses of Inheritance and Identities in Four
García, O. (2010) ‘Languaging and Ethnifying’, Multilingual European Settings’ 1 were to
in Joshua A. Fishman and Ofelia Garcia (eds) investigate the range of language and literacy
Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity. practices of multilingual young people in cities
Disciplinary and Regional Perspectives. Vol. 1. in Denmark, Sweden, The Netherlands, and the
pp 519-534. United Kingdom; to explore the cultural and
social significance of these language and
Kumaravadivelu, B. (2001) Towards a post- literacy practices; and to investigate how they
method pedagogy. TESOL Quarterly 35/4 537 - are used to negotiate inheritance and identities.
60 The research also aimed to develop innovative
research methods, and to contribute to policy
Vertovec, S. (2009). Transnationalism London, and practice in the inclusion of minority
Routledge. languages in Europe. 2
Globalization and global mobility are creating
multilingual and multi-ethnic societies
throughout Europe and beyond. ‘Inheritance’
and ‘identity’ are no longer necessarily tied to
the nation-state. Allegiances and cultural
traditions travel across national boundaries, as
diasporic groups differentially retain affiliation
to national heritage, and global communication
transcends traditional borders. Many parts of
Europe are now characterised by
‘superdiversity’, distinguished by a dynamic
interplay of variables among multiple-origin,
1
The project ‘Investigating discourses of inheritance
and identities in four multilingual European settings’
is financially supported by the HERA Joint Research
Programme (www.heranet.info) which is co-funded
by AHRC, AKA, DASTI, ETF, FNR, FWF, HAZU,
IRCHSS, MHEST, NWO, RANNIS, RCN, VR and
The European Community FP7 2007-2013, under the
Socio-economic Sciences and Humanities
programme
2
The research team comprised Adrian Blackledge,
Jan Blommaert, Angela Creese, Liva Hyttel-
Sørensen, Carla Jonsson, Jens Normann Jørgensen,
Kasper Juffermans, Martha Sif Karrebæk, Sjaak
Kroon, Jarmo Lainio, Jinling Li, Marilyn Martin-
Jones, Anu Muhonen, Lamies Nassri, and Jaspreet
Kaur Takhi
4NALDIC Quarterly 10.1. Autumn 2012
transnationally connected migrants. Modes of Students’ and teachers’ self audio-recording
migrant transnationalism, negotiated in at home and elsewhere
everyday interactions, remain seriously
understudied. This sociolinguistic ethnographic Collection and analysis of texts used in the
project investigates how multilingual young classrooms
people negotiate ‘inheritance’ and ‘identity’ in Ethnographically informed observations of
four European settings. Young people of other school-related events
migrant heritage in Denmark, Sweden, The
Netherlands, and the United Kingdom may Interviews with students, teachers, parents,
identify with a distant territory, but also school administrators, and teaching
‘belong’ in their present home, and in global assistants
popular culture. In this study a research team Collection of students’ written essays
across four universities investigated how
cultural heritage and identity are discursively Collection of online communication,
constructed in and beyond educational settings, including social network sites, blogs, and
and how multilingual young people negotiate emails
inheritance and belonging. The articles in this Attendance at ceremonies in the community
special issue extend current understandings of
cultural heritage and local, national, and global Linguistic landscaping in the fieldwork
identities played out in language classrooms. sites, to map linguistic resources in public
space
The research team developed a collaborative
Research Methods analytic approach which enabled connections
In order to interrogate the range and diversity of and links to be made across the diverse data
settings in which culture, heritage, and identity sets, to collectively offer a representation of the
are discursively negotiated by young people, discursive construction and negotiation of
researchers conducted ethnographic inheritance and identities in and around the
investigations in four national contexts: multilingual sites. Research sites were selected
to represent different kinds of educational and
in two subject teaching classes in a linguistic settings, allowing the international
mainstream school in Copenhagen, research team to observe linguistic and literacy
Denmark practices across a range of contexts. The
in a class in a bilingual semi-private school selection of research sites in European cities
where both Swedish and Spanish are used as enabled researchers to achieve investigative
the medium of instruction, and two bilingual depth of inquiry without sacrificing breadth.
Swedish-Finnish schools, in Stockholm, Over twelve months sociolinguistic data were
Sweden collected in a range of settings connected to the
educational contexts which acted as starting-
in a community-run Panjabi language points for ethnographic enquiry. Detailed
(complementary) school in Birmingham, linguistic ethnographic analysis enabled the
UK development of new understandings of young
in a community-run Chinese language people’s performance and narration of identities.
(complementary) school in Eindhoven, The While the data in each case were unique, at the
Netherlands same time they belonged to a larger category of
cases. The situated events and practices
observed in the international settings revealed
Fieldwork included: salient features of the negotiation of identities
and heritages of multilingual young people in
Ethnographically informed observations in Europe.
classrooms. Field notes were used to record
observations, often supported by audio-
recording, and sometimes by video- Research Findings
recording
Language and literacy practices
Closer observation and audio-recording of
selected students in each school/class The language and literacy practices we observed
across a diverse range of settings in European
5NALDIC Quarterly 10.1. Autumn 2012
cities were characterised by communicative Multilingual young people were acutely attuned
repertoires which were flexible and fluid, as to these differences, and were prepared to
multilingual young people made meaning with regulate language and literacy practices
whatever linguistic resources came to hand. accordingly. The complexity and mobility of the
Across these European metropolitan contexts, language and literacy practices of multilingual
multilingual people did not keep their languages young people in Europe was about more than
separate, but deployed linguistic resources mixing languages; it was also about the way the
which may or may not have ‘belonged to them’, deployment of linguistic resources enacted
and may or may not have been straightforwardly positioning in the social world.
part of their ‘heritage’. We heard from
multilingual people that the mixing of
languages, ‘polylanguaging’, or Cultural and social significance
‘translanguaging’, was not problematic, but was The complexity and mobility of language in use
rather ‘natural’ and ‘automatic’. In classroom in European cities went far beyond the mixed
language learning contexts, too, teachers use of ‘countable’ languages. Language
adopted a pedagogy which included observably pointed to, belonged to, or
transliteration, translanguaging, and translation. represented certain sets of values, ideologies,
Across the four national settings we heard social groups, nationalities, and so on. Rather
attitudes to linguistic resources which associated than asking only ‘who is speaking what to
users of those resources with a certain social whom’ we investigated how linguistic resources
class or set of values. In Birmingham certain were deployed, and why. In order to shift our
ideological positions had been sedimented over focus we needed to develop an analytic gaze
time, as village (‘desi’, or ‘pindufied’) varieties which incorporated recent scholarship on
of Panjabi were associated with uneducated multilingualism, polylanguaging, and
people. However, things were more complex translanguaging, but which went beyond them
than this. The regulation of linguistic resources to include the sociohistorical and ideological
did not depend only on the ‘correction’ of non- bases of language in use. We saw that reflexive
standard varieties by the school. At the same language was a part of the everyday fabric of
time school staff had to put their Panjabi ‘in top social life, as language was used to comment on
gear’ when speaking to elderly members of the language. The repetition of linguistic forms was
community in Birmingham, or to relatives. Here characterised by metasemantic and
different histories overlapped in layers, as metapragmatic activity, as family members,
varieties associated with patterns of multiple peer groups, social network users, teachers, and
migration and transnational belonging played students represented and evaluated the voices of
into understandings of the values associated others, made connections to popular culture,
with certain sets of resources. In Copenhagen rhymed across languages, played with genre,
students in a multilingual secondary school invoked diverse and even invented linguistic
introduced labels for two ways of speaking that resources, and competed over correct
differed from what they referred to as ‘normal’. pronunciation. We observed in the fine grain of
One was ‘integreret’ (integrated), and the other linguistic practice that the smallest nuance of
‘gadesprog’ (street language), or ‘perkeraccent’ difference – phonological, lexical, semantic –
(‘perker’ was a pejorative term used to refer to was sufficient to effect a shift of position in
immigrants). In in-group use, however, the latter interlocutors’ orientation to their social world. A
term referred to a social category defined by stylised Birmingham accent, the use of a word
ethnic minority status across various ethnicities, not usually associated with the speaker’s ethnic
and in this context was not usually pejorative. In group, the mocking representation of a
local in-group use, ‘perker’ invoked values of politician’s voice, the stylised voice of a ‘kebab
toughness and street-credibility. ‘Integrated’ restaurant worker’ in Stockholm, scribbled
speech was ‘the way teachers speak, it is graffiti repeating the lyrics of a song, a student’s
academic’, as a means of showing respect and correction of a teacher’s pronunciation, and
being polite, but was not acceptable among many more examples, were instances of
peers. We saw throughout the ethnographic language use which indexed larger social
study that the meaning of linguistic signs was positions. Language use constituted an
not fixed, but rather mobile, as the meaning of a illustration of the historicity of the present, as
sign in one time and place may be different attitudes and practices were shaped by old and
from its meaning in another time and place.
6NALDIC Quarterly 10.1. Autumn 2012
new histories in national, homeland, family, authenticity. This complexity and
neighbourhood, ‘virtual’, and global domains. unpredictability was not random, however, nor
was it a free-for-all. What counted as authentic
did so because its authenticity was recognised
In The Netherlands young people of Chinese from another time and space. Through
heritage discussed their languages on a social repetition, features of discursive behaviour
network site, and expressed their anxiety that became sedimented, or enregistered, and
they ought to be more proficient in their acquired pragmatic values that came to be
respective varieties of Chinese: ‘whuhahaha, ik recognised as enduring ‘social facts’ about
kan alleen vietnamees verstaan, niet spreken, signs. In such ways identities were produced
maar wel een klein beetje mandarijns praten. and reproduced; and in such ways emblematic
Verbaast me niet als mijn ouders schamen voor features of heritage became inheritance. These
mij ’ . Here histories notes and an item of graffiti were photographed
of migration, global economics, and local in a Swedish-Finnish school. Close inspection
education policy overlap with each other and are of these inscriptions revealed that their contents
traceable in the student’s word, ‘shame’. These were a recontextualisation of the lyrics of songs
histories are not static, and the changing status from American popular music. The ‘Post-it’
of the People’s Republic of China in the notes and the graffiti represented an affiliation
economic market-place has a considerable to particular types of American rock music.
bearing on the value and force of Mandarin Students in the Panjabi school in Birmingham
globally, on increased desire to learn Mandarin, moved seamlessly from singing pop icon Justine
and on this student’s feelings about her Bieber’s ‘Never Say Never’ to (in the next
proficiency. We found that the large structures breath) offering the Latin version of the word
of culture, heritage, and history were ‘never’. In both cases the history of the
identifiable in the smallest instances of the emblematic item was crucial, the former
language and literacy practices of multilingual indexing American/global and transnational
young people in Europe. popular culture, the latter an icon of an elite
form of education in the UK. The students were
able to perform both of these positions
Negotiation of inheritance and identities simultaneously and without problem.
Young people across the four European settings Throughout our observations we saw and heard
continuously negotiated benchmarks of how young people’s communicative repertoires
authenticity which afforded membership of connected and responded to local and global
identity categories. At times emblems of concerns, in discourse which oriented to a
authenticity were constituted in traditional diverse range of identity positions. A teaching
discourses of inheritance - in teaching folk tales, assistant in the Panjabi school in Birmingham,
displaying national flags, insisting on standard 19-year-old Prabhjot, audio-recorded herself at
pronunciation of particular phonemes, teaching home with her friend. She said her friend was
and learning respect for elders, making model ‘more like a gori back in the day’.
representations of ‘home countries’, celebrating Her friend accepted this, saying ‘still am to be
national festivals, and so on. However, the honest’, and that when she was with Prabhjot
transmission of ‘cultural heritage’ was not she was ‘less gorified’; when she was at
always a straightforward matter. Young university ‘the other side comes out’, and when
people’s conception of ‘culture’ was not static, she was at work ‘it’s just a mixture’. She was
but changed across time and space, as what able to perform different identities in different
counted as authentic in one moment, and in one social settings. Prabhjot, however, in an
social setting, did not necessarily count in the exaggerated Birmingham accent, insisted that
same way at another moment and in another her friend was ‘like a typical gori’. In peer
place. In all of the contexts we studied, groups, families, social network groups,
emblems of authentic ‘culture’ was agreed upon classroom interactions, and break-time gossip,
and disagreed about, as discourse revolved young people claimed social positions and were
around a complex and unpredictable notion of positioned by others. In the four European
contexts trajectories of belonging were
7NALDIC Quarterly 10.1. Autumn 2012
negotiated not only daily, but from moment to permanent and the ephemeral, the local and the
moment. global, the collective and the individual. That is,
identities are neither fixed nor unitary, but are
bound up with overlapping histories, and are
Implications of the Research best understood through a lens which examines
The key findings of the research can be the fine grain of local interaction in the light of
summarised as follows: these histories. The research articles which
follow provide just such a lens.
The complexity and mobility of the language
and literacy practices of multilingual young
people in Europe is about more than mixing
languages; it is also about how the deployment
and reception of linguistic resources enacts
positioning in the social world
The large structures of culture, heritage, and
history are identifiable in the smallest
instances of the deployment and reception of
language and literacy practices
Trajectories of belonging and rejection are
performed and negotiated from moment to
moment, and from context to context, as
emblems of authenticity change meaning
across time and space
Multi-site, transnational, team sociolinguistic
ethnography is a rich and reliable approach to
acquire new understandings of contemporary
social, cultural, economic and political
processes
There are implications of these research findings
for European and national policy-makers in the
areas of education, community relations,
international affairs and public opinion.
Language teaching is intimately bound up with
the negotiation and performance of the politics
of heritage and identities. It is clear from our
research that in a number of policy areas in
Europe we can no longer refer to ‘monolingual’,
‘bilingual’, and ‘multilingual’ as separate
categories of people. Equally, we can no longer
rely on a clear distinction between ‘majority’
and ‘minority’ as separate categories of people.
Furthermore, as local, national, and European
governments seek to tailor policy to the needs of
individuals and groups, they need to understand
people’s identities not in terms of apparent or
visible categories, but rather as emic positions
which are self-identified. These identities should
be understood as shifting rather than stable, and
subject to contingencies of time and space. And
they should be understood as responses to
complex, dynamic societies in which subject
positions orient to the old and the new, the
8NALDIC Quarterly 10.1. Autumn 2012
When he opened the door suggests, should be centred on the emergent and
dynamic bilingualism of individual students’
tagna på bar gärning: language practices.
Translanguaging as a
resource in English In this classroom, the teacher uses a bilingual
language subject classes in label quest (see Martin et al.2006), as he says
“parrot” in English with the expectation that his
a bilingual Sweden Finnish pupils will provide an equivalent in another
school in Sweden language, primarily in Swedish and sometimes
also in Finnish. After receiving the correct
___________________ answer, the teacher (T) writes the word “parrot”
on the white board and simultaneously
Anu Muhonen addresses the following question in English
“ How many r´s is there in the word parrot?”
and directly afterwards in Swedish “Hur många
I start with an example of a bilingual approach r?” A pupil (P) provides an answer “two” which
to language teaching from a multilingual is followed by the teacher´s instant supportive
classroom. The following is a short extract from feedback “hyvä” in Finnish. This short
a teacher led classroom during which English as classroom dialogue mirrors flexible
a foreign language is being taught in a semi- bilingualism, described by Creese and
private bilingual Sweden Finnish School in Blackledge (2011, p. 1197) as bilingual
Sweden. 1 language practices where the speakers “call into
Extract 1: Parrot play diverse sets of linguistic resources” or what
García (2009, p.141, 2007) calls
1 Teacher: How many r´s is there in the word translanguaging i.e. “the act performed by
parrot? Hur många r?
features or various modes of what are described
2 Pupil: Two as autonomous languages”. Here both these
3 Teacher: Hyvä practices are performed by the teacher. The
pupils attending the class are 13-14 year olds in
their Year 5 English course. They have been
This short interaction contains several examples learning English as a foreign language since the
of what we might think of as a bilingual third grade. During ethnographic fieldwork in
pedagogy (NALDIC, 2009) which Hornberger English subject classes I observed that the
proposes is “essentially about opening up multilingual language practices of adolescents
ideological and implementational space in the and teachers did not differ significantly. In fact,
environment for as many languages as possible” multilingual language use and translaguaging
(Hornberger, 2002, p. 30) and, as García (2009) was a common practice for both teachers and
young people during the language teaching and
1 learning activities.
Sweden Finnish is the correct/commonly used term
for Finns living in Sweden, because “Swedish This paper aims at describing, analyzing and
Finnish” is used to refer to the Swedish speaking discussing how translanguaging is used as a
minority living and speaking bilingually in resource in multilingual language teaching
Finland.The so called semi-private school is a limited pedagogy in the English subject classroom in
corporate company which offers bilingual Finnish the bilingual Sweden Finnish school. The school
Swedish pedagogy and follows the official and is situated in a multicultural neighborhood in a
obligatory Swedish school curriculum. It is (partly)
southern suburb of Stockholm, a neighborhood
financed by the Swedish state. Most of the bilingual
education in Sweden is given by these private
that reflects the ‘superdiversity’ (Vertovec
bilingual schools. As Finnish is an official minority 2007; Blommaert & Rampton 2011) of urban
language in Sweden, the pupils have the right to Sweden. The pupils come from heterogeneous
receive education in Finnish by request. There are linguistic, cultural and migration backgrounds.
altogether seven bilingual Finnish Swedish schools Common to all is that they share Finnish
in Sweden. My data were collected in one of the cultural and linguistic heritage and have at least
schools based in Stockholm area. one parent or grandparent from Finland. All are
9NALDIC Quarterly 10.1. Autumn 2012
bilingual in Finnish and Swedish. Some come 16 P4: we don’t have any balls in here ((laughing,
from multilingual and cultural families and have overlapping speech))
-besides Finnish and Swedish- allegiances also 17 T: you have to say footballs you have to say
to other cultures and languages. By connecting footballs ((talks to P2 on the door in
my field work observations to the present
18 Swedish and then turns back to the class))
interactional data I will discuss and reflect how excuse me sir excuse me
multilingual pedagogy and translanguaging
practices function as pedagogical resources in 19 madam it’s better to say footballs otherwise
the classroom. they can think of something else […]
In the following, the class is engaged in a After a short discourse the class returns to the
discussion based on a text book exercise which textbook exercise. The teacher begins reading
describes a situation where a fictional teacher, the text aloud and soon leads the discussion into
Mr Pain, arrives into a classroom where the the topic of the day, the English saying “When
pupils, instead of working on their school tasks, the cat is away the mice will play”, as well as its
are having a wild party. In real time, the teacher Swedish equivalents:
(T) in lines1and 2 is referring to the situation
described in the textbook. Suddenly, there is a
20 T: […] one day all the children thought Mr
knock on the classroom door (line 3) when a Pain wasn´t at school but suddenly he
pupil (P2) from another class interrupts the
ongoing lesson by entering the classroom and 21 opened the door of their classroom what
making a request of borrowing a football, as we were the children doing when he opened
hear from line 7 onwards: 22 the door tagna på bar gärning brukar vi
säga på svenska det är ett uttryck som vi
23 säger tagen på bar gärning har ni hört talas
Extract 2: When the cat is away om det någon gång ja det har du men de
1 T: [..] jag hoppas att dom lugnar ner sig 24 var några som inte förstådde alls men sen
hopefully kan man också säga när katten är borta
this class will calm down when Mr Pain
25 så dansar rottorna på bordet det är också
2 is coming in like you did now hopefully I ett uttryck här i Sverige […]
am not Mr Pain
OH
7 P2: om ni ger en boll här
connect to the local cultural and linguistic
8 T: but we don’t excuse me we don´t speak contexts of the saying “when the cat is away”,
Swedish in here so you have to as the teacher explains what connotations are
9 speak English so what do you want? related to it and how it is used “här i Sverige”
(here in Sweden), in the country where they all
10 P2: ee why you asking you
live in. After a short while, while repeating the
11 T: yeah saying, the teacher writes down “when the cat is
12 P2: you you do do have your ball away the mice will play” in Swedish on the
whiteboard (line 28), simultaneously repeating
13 P3: NO WE DON´T HAVE A BALL while he writes:
14 P4: we don´t have any balls here
15 T: you don’t have the FOOTBALL
10NALDIC Quarterly 10.1. Autumn 2012
28 T: […] när katten är borta så dansar rottorna practices when he gives suggestions on the
på bordet ((writes)) “milloin kissa” (when the cat) engaging also his
29 P: en mus pupils to collaborate, as seen in line 34 when a
pupil provides the correct “kun”, as a response
30 T: ja eller mössen då en mus flera möss
rottorna på bordet pöydällä säger man
to the word choice “milloin” the teacher
the teacher both expresses his interest in the
Finnish language “how do you say this in
31 hur SÄGER man det här på finska när Finnish” in line 31 and gives evidence on his
katten är borta så dansar rottorna på bordet
only rudimentary language skills by “I can only
little” on line 35 and still flexibly
translanguages while attempting to find the
32 P5: kun idiomatic saying in Finnish. It is commonly
33 T milloin kissa vad säger man has learned some Finnish while working in the
34 P5: kun kissa on poissa niin Finnish for beginners some years ago. Yet, by
asking the pupils for guidance, knowing that the
35 T: tanssia och rottorna pöydällä nej jag kan pupils all speak Finnish, the teacher reproduces
lite bara hur säger man
and the pragmatic practices indexed through it.
This leads to the fact that, in the present
36 P5: kun kissa on poissa niin collaboration in translanguaging practices help
37 P: rotat tanssivat pöydällä this multilingual classroom activity.
38 T: ahaa det är ett uttryck som är på finska Creese and Blackledge (2011, p.1197) use the
också eller where the teacher insists on language
39 P: nej separation, as is the case here (lines 8 and 9)
where the teacher forces the interrupting pupil
40 T: nej det var det jag ville komma till vi har ett
uttryck på svenska som vi kör med […]
to readdress his question in English “as we do
not speak Swedish in here”, insisting the usage
pupil’s reformulation of the question in English
(lines 10 and 12). This activity indexes
interesting functions. As it is probably obvious
Translanguaging practices in the present to all participants -except perhaps to P2- the
classroom activity represent and perform several teacher utters the request with a stylized
functions. First of all, the teacher is engaging in laughing tone of voice which proves his
grammar teaching and guiding activity: When statement in line 8 false, because the class has
the pupil in line 12 asks for the “ball”, the only recently heard him speaking Swedish (line
teacher later on in line 15 guides the class into a 1). As we witness, he also speaks Swedish to the
correct word choice “you don’t have the pupil at the door. In fact, based on my
football” and even provides a longer classroom observations, it is uncommon for him
metalinguistic explanation in lines 17 to 19 on to insist on separate bilingualism norm although
why the choice of “football” is better than the use of English is always encouraged in the
“balls”. Similarly, on line 30, T also repeats the classroom. By insisting on language separation,
right conjugation for the word “mouse” (en mus the teacher takes an opportunity to enhance the
flera moss) in a manner common to typical use of English in the classroom while
grammar drilling exercise, here in Swedish. pretending, tongue-in-cheek that the interruption
Noteworthy is that T does not only guide the P2 makes is inappropriate.
pupils to English grammar but also Swedish
grammar, as seen in the latter extract. The
teacher is also engaged in translanguaging
11NALDIC Quarterly 10.1. Autumn 2012
Conclusion this seemed to lead to a genuine interest in
pupils’ heritages and heritage languages and
The official school policy is to support pupils’
therefore in using translanguaging as a resource
(Finnish-Swedish) bilingualism and bicultural
in multilingual pedagogy. A translanguaging
heritage(s). As I have observed, the teacher also
approach transmits and mirrors important
engages in pedagogy using flexible bilingualism
information effectively in the classroom but it
and translanguaging practices in order to
also keeps the discourse going. Even the less
accomplish that. It is important to note that all
proficient emergent bilingual pupils are
the pupils are not necessarily very confident
activated and included in the discourses. In the
with using their different linguistic features in
institutional context displayed here, pupils’
their multilingual class. Some may have only
multilingual skills are made use of during the
recently migrated to Sweden. However, the
teaching and learning activities in a manner that
teacher creates an ideological space which
also cherishes supports and empowers their
allows them to bring different linguistic
multilingual and multicultural identities and
resources into the classroom. By
heritages. Commonly, both the teacher and
translanguaging himself, and using linguistic
pupils are engaged in meaning negotiations
resources available, the teacher makes
where the use of any “languages” and
multilingual language practice common,
repertoires at speakers’ disposal are accepted
accepted and perhaps even encouraged in
and even encouraged. Translanguaging as a
classroom practice. When he communicates
multilingual pedagogy supports pupils´
with rudimentary resources, he encourages his
language learning in a way that mirrors the
pupils to do so.
linguistic reality of the adolescents. Yet, while
translanguaging most certainly is a common
I have chosen to demonstrate these examples by everyday activity and a sociolinguistic reality to
presenting the teachers’ translanguaging multilingual adolescents, the fact that the
strategies to show that it is not only the pupils English subject teacher also translanguages in
who engage in translanguaging practices, but the classroom sends an important message,
also the teacher. It is common for the supporting heteroglossic flexible bilingualism,
multilingual teacher to make use of empowering also the heritages and heritage
translanguaging practices in the classroom. In identities of the pupils.
the same way pupils’ multilingual skills are
made use of in the learning processes. When
References:
flexible bilingualism is the norm, it is no longer
only the teacher who possesses knowledge Blommaert, J. & Rampton, B. (2011). Language
about several languages and cultures and who and superdiversity. Diversities 13/2, 3-21.
automatically gets the floor. Rather, pupils´
Creese, A. & Blackledge A. (2010).
linguistic repertoires and knowledge are often
Translanguaging in the bilingual classroom: a
both useful and relevant to the teaching and
pedagogy for learning and teaching. Modern
learning tasks where translanguaging is made
Language Journal 94, 103-115.
use of as a pedagogical resource. The teacher
may be an “expert” in his subject and Swedish Creese, A. & Blackledge, A. with Baraç, T.;
culture but the pupils also possess knowledge Bhatt, A.; Hamid, S.; Wei, L.; Lytra, V.; Martin,
and cultural capital beyond that. All these are P.; Wu, C.-J. & Yağcioğlu, D. (2011). Separate
constantly negotiated and made meaningful. As and flexible bilingualism in complementary
a whole, these pedagogies emphasize the schools: Multiple language practices in
overlapping of languages or the heteroglossic interrelationship. Journal of Pragmatics 43,
flexible bilingualism (see also Creese & 1196-1208.
Blackledge 2010, 2011). It is likely that they García, O. (2007). Foreword, in Makoni, S. &
also reflect the translanguaging practices the Pennycook, A. (eds.) Disinventing and
pupils are engaged in outside the classroom. Reconstituting Languages, Multilingual Matters.
Clevedon, xi-xv.
The pupils in the multilingual classroom have García, O. (2009). Bilingual education in the
heterogeneous linguistic cultural and migration 21st century: A global perspective. Oxford:
backgrounds. From the teachers’ point of view Wiley.
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Hornberger, N. H. (2002). Multilingual
language policies and the continua of biliteracy:
An ecological approach, Language Policy, 1,
27-51.
Martin, P., Bhatt, A., Bhojani, N., & Creese, A.
(2006). Managing bilingual interaction in a
Cujarati complementary school in Leicester,
Language and Education 20, 5-22.
NALDIC (2009). Developing a bilingual
pedagogy for UK schools. Working Paper 9
Vertovec, S. (2007). Super-diversity and its
implications. Ethnic and Racial Studies. 30, 6,
1024-1054.
Transcription key:
Regular font English
Italics Swedish
bold Finnish
CAPITAL loud speech
((knocking)) transcribers´ comments
[...] omitted lines
English translation
13NALDIC Quarterly 10.1. Autumn 2012
Multilingual practices in a experience in the different settings of a FE
college, secondary school and complementary
Panjabi complementary school. She serves as a mentor not only to her
school in Birmingham own two classroom assistants but also to the other
14 teachers who work at the complementary
___________________ school.
Jaspreet Kaur Takhi, Angela
Hema is passionate about the necessity of
Creese, Adrian Blackledge preserving Panjabi and describes the importance
of the language in her own life:
MOSAIC Centre for Research on
I think our language is extremely
Multilingualism, University of important . . .if you don’t know your
Birmingham language then what will you do? And
secondly if you have your roots, if a tree
doesn’t have roots then how big will that
tree grow? Because you won’t have any
Introduction self confidence because you won’t know
In this article we introduce one of the bilingual
who you are. Without an identity then
teachers in the Birmingham case study and what will you do?
describe the knowledge and skills she brings to
her Saturday Panjabi classes. Although our own She has a pragmatic view of language use in the
observations of Hema take place in a
classroom and stresses the importance of drawing
complementary school setting, her full time work
on the students’ linguistic repertoire as she
in a Birmingham secondary school is also
teaches them Panjabi:
relevant. Because of her teaching role in both
educational settings as well as her individual both languages yeah, both languages, we
history of settlement, migration, bilingualism and
mix them yes when they don’t understand
social, linguistic and pedagogic knowledge, she
and we don’t have words in Panjabi to
played an important mediating role for students.
describe them we then describe them in
In this paper we identify some of the ways she English
achieved this. These include the setting of high
educational standards, providing improved access Hema refers to a multilingual approach to
to teaching resources and materials and making
language teaching which is common in
explicit to students the beneficial links to be
complementary school classrooms (Kenner et al,
gained through their membership of multiple 2008). Hema emphasises the importance of not
communities connected through their keeping the languages separate in the teaching of
multilingualism. In order to illustrate these Panjabi. One language can serve as a resource
points we draw on the following evidence: our
for teaching another language. Hema also points
observational fieldnotes which took place over a
to the porous boundaries between the two
year; interview data conducted at the end of the
languages. At times ‘English’ can be used when
observations; and classroom audio recordings a ‘Panjabi’ word is not available for various
gathered in the final observation period. reasons. In other words, translation is not
always possible and at that point an English word
Living history: Shaping pedagogy becomes a Panjabi word and vice versa. For
Hema is in her mid-thirties and came to the UK
example in our classroom observation fieldnotes
in 1995. She was educated in the Panjab, India we record, “A student asks a question about
and obtained a Masters degree in Economics. ‘shopping centres’ and how you say that in
After arriving in Birmingham she completed an Panjabi. Hema explains that some words can’t be
ESOL course and began to teach adults at
translated and you just have to write it in
Birmingham’s City College. She has worked in a
English” (fieldnotes). On another occasion,
large Birmingham secondary school for over
though, she seems stricter when a child uses the
thirteen years as a teaching assistant. At the English term ‘playground’ in her sentence; Hema
Panjabi complementary school she is seen as a won’t accept this, and provides the child with the
‘senior teacher’ because of her long term Panjabi term. Decisions about which words
commitment to the school and her teaching
require translations and which do not, are not
14NALDIC Quarterly 10.1. Autumn 2012
arbitrary but rely on Hema’s knowledge as an The class work quietly. They feel at ease
experienced bilingual who has lived in a number with her but are also very respectful. The
of multilingual contexts. We see Hema take up class is hardworking. She encourages
two positions towards bilingualism collaboration among the students and
simultaneously, one which argues for flexible says, ‘it is not a competition. It’s not a
bilingualism and one which argues for separate race. This is group work. There is no
bilingualism (Creese and Blackledge, 2011). winning here’. Hema moves around the
class answering individual questions,
Throughout her teaching Hema uses a kneeling down to work with students,
combination of Panjabi and English. Although correcting work, praising answers. She
she publicly and formally tells her students that uses role plays, text books, computer
she will speak in Panjabi ‘most of the time’ she exercises, but mostly she uses teacher
also adds, “If you don’t understand let me know. fronted board work.
I want you to learn in a fun way”(fieldnotes). In
practice, Hema uses English a good deal of the The role complementary schooling plays in
time. Following García (2009) we have contributing to educational success has been well
described this kind of language practice as documented. Creese et al describe the work that
‘flexible bilingualism’ (Creese and Blackledge, complementary schools do in creating successful
2010a) and ‘translanguaging as pedagogy’ ‘learner identities’ (Creese et al 2006). Conteh
(Creese and Blackledge 2010b). According to (2011:4) shows the contributions of community
García (2009) the role of educators is to notice learning and complementary schooling
learner needs rather than demarcate lines between experiences in student success in the mainstream
particular languages. Meaningful instructional and points to the vital role language plays in
practices support students’ linguistic and “identity negotiation and performance, which is,
cognitive growth. García suggests that language in turn, a vital aspect of educational success”.
choice in multilingual speakers involves Kenner and Ruby (forthcoming 2012; 2012)
negotiation in every interaction as speakers show what is to be gained when teachers in both
“decide who they want to be and choose their mainstream and complementary settings
language practices accordingly” (2010, p. 524). collaborate for the success of their pupils.
Translanguaging, according to García, “considers
multiple language practices in interrelationship” Linking teaching and learning contexts
(2009:7). We view Hema’s pedagogy as an In addition to sharing agendas for high
example of translanguaging. However, despite attainment, Hema is able to make other
the endorsement of such a progressive connections between the mainstream and
multilingual ideology, this does not mean that complementary school settings. An important
‘anything goes’ in the Panjabi language connection is her knowledge and use of available
classroom. resources. As mentioned above, during the week
Hema works in a Birmingham secondary school
Setting standards where she also teaches Panajbi. The
As an educator in two different educational complementary school has developed excellent
settings Hema is very aware of the importance of links with this mainstream school and Hema uses
educational success, examination results and high the same classroom on a Saturday that she uses
expectations. She endorses the message of the during the week. This provides her and her
mainstream with its focus on study skills, careful colleagues with several advantages often lacking
reading of examination questions and the in complementary schools which often borrow
completion of homework. She encourages her institutional spaces in very restricted ways.
students to “come in early to get extra help”. Her Instead, working across contexts affords Hema
lessons speak of “achieving and enjoying”. She the following advantages:
asks the students what their expectations are of
her and “Help me pass my A level” is one answer access to the secondary school computer
she receives. In Hema’s class there is a lot of talk system for teaching which Hema is able to
about mock examinations and real examinations extend to the other complementary school
and the focus is on achieving high grades. Our teachers by providing login details
observations record the following, use of wall space for Panjabi posters and
teaching materials without any need to
remove posters ‘ready’ for mainstream
15NALDIC Quarterly 10.1. Autumn 2012
classes on Mondays. Our fieldnotes record, internet. Often they chat with Hema about family
“On the walls are many posters and weddings, bringing in sweets for her from recent
translation of key words in Panjabi; posters family celebrations. She appears to know many
of trips to India; and teachings of Gurus and of the families personally.
scriptures of how to be a good Sikh. There is
a sign which says in both English and Panjabi Elsewhere we have talked about the importance
‘Read Panjabi, Write Panjabi, Speak Panjabi, of complementary schools as sites of negotiation
Listen to Panjabi, Be Panjabi’ (fieldnotes). (Blackledge and Creese, 2010). Teachers appear
She has access to teaching materials that she sensitive to the young people’s questions around
has developed over her career including identity, culture and language. Many teachers
school resources such as bilingual have children themselves and of course have their
dictionaries and bilingual books own histories and stories of individual and family
migration, language learning and settlement. One
The advantages of having a secure and example of Hema negotiating with students
continuous space for the teaching of the around topics of national and ethnic identity
community language across educational settings comes from the use of a required A level text.
affords several advantages. Not only does it Our fieldnotes record,
make the preparation and organisation of Hema’s
classes easier to achieve, it also sends a clear Hema asks in English what one of the
message to students that their language learning students thinks of text. The girl says, ‘I
is viewed as an investment in both mainstream highly agree.’ This makes some of the
and complementary school settings. Sneddon and children laugh. Hema isn’t happy with
Martin (2012) argue that research on the answer and explains to the girl that
complementary schooling needs to investigate the the text has some positive things about
impact of power and policy on the take-up of friendship but also negative things about
community language teaching. They show how rich people only being friends with rich
issues of resource, control and status in different people and not with poor. Hema explains
communities ultimately affects the survival of that in the Panjabi community there are
different provision. people who are still very interested in
castes and only want to be friends with
Multiple communities people from similar castes. She says it’s
Complementary school teachers are aware of the not the children’s fault but some parents’.
time and investment that young people put into She tells the class, “in the multicultural
learning a community language on Saturday West these questions are not relevant.
mornings. Hema uses several strategies to We should be respecting all people and
mediate the movement from leisure time into not decide on friendship about money.”
school time on a Saturday morning. One
approach is that she blurs the beginning of the In Hema’s class, there is an interest in making the
lesson. Our fieldnotes record, connections between home and school strong.
The following extract is an example of Hema
Hema’s classes slide into starting. This is using a response from her students to make a
a deliberate approach. She says that many direct connection between home and school. The
Asian parents send their children late to class is practising words that use the ‘bihari’ or
class (she doesn’t say this in a negative ‘ee’ sound in Panjabi. Hema is asking the class to
way – rather a matter of fact kind of way) think of words using this sound. Pavan, a student,
and because this happens she sets up suggests the word leeray meaning cloth or rag:
tasks that accommodate both those who
arrive early and those who come late Hema next one?
(fieldnotes). Pavan leeray
Hema which one?
Pavan leeray
In the complementary school classroom
Hema leader?
restrictions are relaxed. In the breaks for Pavan leeray
example students stay in class and the young Hema leader as in leader?
people are able to use their mobile phones, eat Pavan leeray
food, listen to music on their mp3 players, log Kirsty leeray miss he’s
into facebook, connect to email, and use the saying leeray clothes
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